


always but not forever

by galaxy_of_pi



Series: always but not forever series [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Coda, Episode: s01e15 Out of Time, M/M, another one of the caitlin finds cisco after wells kills him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:54:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26134552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galaxy_of_pi/pseuds/galaxy_of_pi
Summary: Cisco tried to push away the feeling of dread churning inside of him as he watched the image of the Reverse Flash, desperate to find a flaw in the only explanation he could think of. Desperate to find something other than that his boss, the one person who had mentored him, given him a home when he needed it, and believed in him from the beginning was actually a homicidal maniac.So when he heard the voice, he didn’t want to turn around.“Oh I’m not like the Flash at all.”“Some would say I’m the Reverse.”He could feel his heart drop and the blood thunder in his ears as he turned, seeing the one person who had become more like family than his own blood standing in the doorway.Standing?He could feel tears welling up as he stared at the man, feeling a sense of empty betrayal. How much had been hidden from him? Did he even know anything about the man who he had devoted his work to for years, defending him from anyone who dared to criticize him?
Relationships: Cisco Ramon & Caitlin Snow, Cisco Ramon & Eobard Thawne | Harrison Wells, Cisco Ramon/Hartley Rathaway
Series: always but not forever series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1897789
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	always but not forever

**Author's Note:**

> This fic takes place in s01ep15:Out Of Time when Wells kills Cisco in the lab and when Caitlin finds him later
> 
> This is mostly canon-compliant except that Cisco and Hartley have been dating for a little bit and really love each other and they both find him
> 
> If people want me to I could make this into a multi chapter story that follows what would happen if Barry didn't change the timeline
> 
> Enjoy!

Cisco fiddled with his laptop again, watching as the Reverse Flash repeated itself again and again. “My goals are beyond your understanding.”

My goals are beyond your understanding.

He ran his hand through his hair and turned back to what he realized must be a hologram, studying the man in yellow as he continued through the script. 

“Dr. Wells, we meet at last.”

His head was spinning. It was faked, somehow, which must have meant that what? The Reverse Flash had never been here? But-- he turned back to the computer, studying it, hoping with all his heart that he was somehow misunderstanding this whole situation, yet he found nothing. Everything about the trap was working just how he had designed it to, but somehow--

He walked closer to the shimmering edge of the forcefield, watching as the Reverse Flash hologram ran through the script again. 

He tried to push away the feeling of dread churning inside of him as he watched the image, desperate to find a flaw in the only explanation he could think of. Desperate to find something other than that his boss, the one person who had mentored him, given him a home when he needed it, and believed in him from the beginning was actually a homicidal maniac.

So when he heard the voice, he didn’t want to turn around.

“Oh I’m not like the Flash at all.”

“Some would say I’m the Reverse.” 

He could feel his heart drop and the blood thunder in his ears as he turned, seeing the one person who had become more like family than his own blood standing in the doorway.

Standing? 

He could feel tears welling up as he stared at the man, feeling a sense of empty betrayal. How much had been hidden from him? Did he even know anything about the man who he had devoted his work to for years, defending him from anyone who dared to criticize him?

He felt anger rising within him as Wells continued speaking, pacing slowly across the floor towards him, the kindly mentor expression he had known for years now gone, replaced with emptiness as Cisco tried to look into his eyes, searching for any remnant of the man he knew. 

“I am Eobard Thawne.”

He almost laughed through the tears building in his eyes. So not only was the illusion that Harrison Wells actually cared for him now destroyed, but Harrison Wells, the person who he thought he had idolized since he was thirteen never even knew him, let alone cared for or believed in him. 

“You’re incredibly clever, Cisco. I’ve always said so.”

Where that sort of praise used to make him feel proud, used to make him glow, now it just made him feel sick. Getting a compliment from a monster like Wells-- no, Thawne-- felt like it destroyed even more of the world he he had known.

He stared at the man prowling closer, the minutes seeming to stretch into an eternity as he saw Thawne raise his hand, vibrating it so fast that it became a blur. Cisco was trapped, his mind not letting him move, even as the logical side of him reasoned he could never get away from a speedster. 

His thoughts skipped frantically, as if they were trying to get a lifetime's worth of ideas in in the last two minutes that he had on the earth. 

Caitlin and Barry. They wouldn’t know what happened to him. Just that he was dead. No more cool gadgets or nicknames, no more movie marathons, no one left for Caitlin to turn to when she felt like there was no one left for her in the world.

His parents. Dante. They’d think he had just blown off another family gathering, not ever realizing that he had been killed by the only father he felt had been there for him.

And Hartley. Cisco’s vision blurred with tears as he saw the hand raise to his chest, as he felt himself start to gasp for breath, knowing that his entire life was for nothing. The person who he had fallen for, despite all odds. The one who could make him laugh even when he felt like his world was falling apart, the one who made him know that everything would be okay.

Cisco felt time was slipping past him even as he tried desperately to hold on, to stretch it out long enough so that he could finish his last message to Hartley. Even if he would never hear it. 

But time would never be on his side.

“And in many ways, you have shown me what it’s like to have a son.”

The bottomless pit of guilt and betrayal that had been churning and swirling inside his stomach suddenly was transformed into a chasm of fire as he felt sharp, hot stabs of pain and looked down, seeing a vibrating hand shoved through his chest. 

He gasped for breath, trying to finish his last thoughts, because even though the only thing he had done for this world as a whole was hurt it with the Accelerator, he had helped some people, and he wanted--no, needed to focus on that. 

But the world was swimming and he hardly caught Wells’ last words through the haze of agony as his heart was shredded and mind consumed by pain. 

“Forgive me. But to me, you’ve been dead for centuries.”

Hart, it’s only been you. Always and--

The hand was removed and the world turned black as he slumped to the floor, sprawled on the cold cement in front of the man who he had trusted above all others. 

\---------------------

Hartley checked his phone for the fifth time in the last half an hour, spinning the fidget ring that Cisco had bought him only days before. He knew it was probably nothing, knew that he was just paranoid and overprotective, but Cisco had promised he would take a break and meet him for lunch, and he was already half an hour late.

Hartley sighed, getting up from the soft couch in their apartment and leaving, deciding to head by the lab and check up on his boyfriend, see if he was still good to go out. He was probably just absorbed in his work again, he reminded himself. It wasn’t uncommon that Cisco would get deep enough into a project that he wouldn’t realize that hours more than he had planned for had gone by and he had missed two meals.

He headed to the lab, pushing away the feeling of dread and how uncomfortable he still was in STAR Labs, attributing it to the disaster of the Particle Accelerator and when he was fired.

“Cisco?” The labs were silent. Far more so than usual.

He walked carefully down the hallway, peeking into the cortex but not seeing Cisco’s familiar form relaxing in one of the comfortable chairs. He didn’t see anyone else, so he continued down the hallway, heading for the workshop that Cisco now used, the one that had once been their shared workspace before everything had gone to hell.

“Hartley?” He swung around, seeing Caitlin behind him and relaxing some.

“Hey. You seen Cisco? He was supposed to meet me for lunch but I guess he got into a project and forgot.”

Caitlin shook her head, looking worried and on the verge of panicking. 

“Are you alright?” He and Caitlin had struck up a friendship that neither had been expecting, but had made his life hundreds of times better than it had been for over ten years. 

“No, I-- I was looking for Cisco also. Wells-- he--” She looked uncomfortable, and like she was terrified of something, which disturbed him more than he would have thought. Especially from Caitlin Snow, who had always been composed and calm for as long as he’s known her. 

But then she set off at a quick pace, not even finishing her sentence and leaving him to jog to keep up, even though she was wearing heels; a feat that he thought was rather impressive. They had checked almost every room when she suddenly froze, an idea seeming to come to her.

Then she took off, racing down the hallways to the room that held the trap they had designed for the Reverse Flash. They turned the last corner and Hartley felt his world shatter around him, the pieces slicing deep into him and creating wounds that he knew would never heal as he finally caught sight of the figure on the floor.

Cisco was slumped on the ground, his long wavy hair spread out like an angel’s halo, his chest unmoving. 

Hartley felt his own heart stop as he stumbled forwards and fell to the ground, grasping at Cisco’s wrist, hands shaking too hard to find a pulse, desperately reaching for what he knew in his heart wasn’t there, but how could it not be there this was Cisco, Cisco who was always there when he needed him, endlessly cheerful and sunny, the kindest person he’d ever known, the guy who’s smile lit up his world and made him feel like maybe everything could be okay, no not Cisco no no no no he couldn’t be--

His hands brushed over Cisco’s hair and his eyes blurred with tears as he gently pulled Cisco’s head into his lap, hardly processing what was happening except for the fact that one moment Cisco was here, and now he was gone, forever. 

He vaguely registered Caitlin to the side, tears of her own streaming down her face as she stared at the person who had become her brother, but he could hardly think over the roaring in his ears, over the feeling that he could hardly breathe.

He was gasping for breath and starting to hyperventilate as the world seemed to fall away around him, leaving only himself, and Cisco. 

Leaving him with the only person who had gotten past all his defenses, who understood him completely, who could match him in any scientific discussion while competing for the largest amount of movie and Harry Potter references that could be squeezed into a conversation. 

Leaving him alone, without his best friend and boyfriend. 

His always, but not his forever.

**Author's Note:**

> :)


End file.
